President gives away 60th National Film Awards

Talent from the Indian movie industry received awards from President   Pranab Mukherjee at the 60th National Film Awards across various   categories here Friday. Veteran actor Pran was honoured with the   Dadasaheb Phalke award, but the 93-year-old couldn't make it to the   event.

The ceremony, hosted by actors R. Madhavan and Huma Qureshi, witnessed   performances by Shankar Mahadevan, who got the best male playback singer   award for the song "Bolo na" from "Chittagong", for which Prasoon   Joshi received the best lyricist award.

A healthy mix of Bollywood, southern, Marathi and Bengali cinema talent   won awards and some of them were looking great in their Indian attire.   John Abraham opted for bandgala suit while Nawazuddin Siddiqui opted for   black suit.

Tigmanshu Dhulia's "Paan Singh Tomar", about an   athlete-turned-dacoit, won the best film award. Versatile Irrfan, who   played the title role in the biopic, was named the best actor for the   same film, and he shared the title with Vikram Gokhale for his   performance in Marathi film "Anumati".

Actress Usha Jadhav won the best actress title for playing a rustic   housewife in Marathi film "Dhag", which won the best director's gong   for Shivaji Lotan Patil.

The award for the best female playback singer was given to Samhita for   the song "Palakein naa moon don" from Marathi film "Aarti   Anklekartikekar".

In the feature film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages have been selected for the awards.

From Bollywood, "Kahaani", "Vicky Donor", "Paan Singh Tomar", "OMG! Oh My God" and "Dekh Indian Circus" won multiple awards.

Sujoy Ghosh won the best screenplay writer (original) for "Kahaani",   which also won Namrata Rao best editor National Award and Nawazuddin   Siddiqui got a special mention for the same film.

"Vicky Donor", a film on a youngster who plays a sperm donor, won three   gongs - best film providing wholesome entertainment, best supporting   actor for Annu Kapoor and best supporting actress for Dolly Ahluwalia   who shared it with Kalpana, who won it for Malayalam movie "Thanichalla   Njan".

Actress Parineeti Chopra, looking pretty in a salwar-kameez, came to take the award for a special mention for "Ishaqzaade".

The best adapted screenplay went to Bhavesh Mandalia and Shri Umesh   Shukla for "OMG! Oh My God", an adaptation of a Gujarati play.

The best debut film of a director was jointly picked by "101 Chodiyangal" with Hindi film "Chittagong".

The best child artist award too has been shared by Minon for "101 Chodiyangal" and Virendra Pratap for "Dekh Indian Circus".

Anjali Menon won the best dialogue award for Malayalam film "Ustad   Hotel", which also won a posthumous special mention for ace actor   Thilakan, who passed away in September last year.

A special jury award has been conferred on Rituparno Ghosh for Bengali   film "Chitrangadha". Birju Maharaj won the award for the best   choreography for Tamil film "Vishwaroopam", while Tamil blockbuster   "Eega" won the award for its awe-inspiring visual effects.

Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal too was present at the   occasion along with Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari,   which saw key members of the country's film fraternity.